You are paying for all the changes? Paint the walls . Add under the counter lighting. Get stainless appliances................

Or turn the inlaws to outlaws in a hurry.

Unless you are "buying" the rental property..........treat it as a rental. Or seek elsewhere to reside. For the foreseeable future does still not make it yours. It is theirs. It is ESPECIALLY theirs if you are living there rent free.

It looks like a well laid out kitchen. Would you be able to add lighting? It seems like it may be dark because there is very little lighting.
You can add plug in under cabinet lighting or pucks in expensively. Adding can lights in the ceiling or upgrading any ceiling or over sink features would cost more but ultimately enhance the value of the property. Then make sore you have a warmth of bulb color (cooler) that works for you.
I would not repaint until you address the lighting. It will still look dark.

@JAN MOYER I was thinking the same thing about the future in-laws. I'd tread lightly here. The kitchen isn't that bad. The door matches the cabinets. I'd leave it. Stainless might cool it down in a hurry. The countertop looks grey on my monitor. Maybe switch out the wall paint and add your decorations and see if you can live with it. I'd leave the backsplash, cabinets, and door alone.

How long will you be renting - several years? Live in it for awhile, and then after you've been married for awhile, if you stay there, then broach the subject of redoing it.

I can't imagine taking the chance of creating a negative situation with future inlaws, and possibly your future husband, when they've just remodeled it themselves. Most people don't start married life with an ideal housing situation. And even if they've said it's ok to change some things, you don't know what they're really thinking.

Anne

Edit: Without giving too much information about my personal life, all expenses would be paid by us (rent included) and the in-laws would be happy to see us make this place our own. As a homeowner myself, I know the importance of protecting an investment and would only make changes that would improve the desirability and potential value of the property. The tacky decorations were mine, trying to make the space cozy in a pinch. I’m excited to start this new chapter in my life and don’t want to get too caught up in the details, but also want to make it feel like home to us :)

Grace.

Are you a current homeowner, or a previous one?

Sure, paint the door and the walls.... but don't mess with the new everything else- don't put stuff over the backsplash, don't mess with the cabinets, flooring, or countertops.

Even if your future in-laws are being nice by saying you can change things- it's still a rental with a brand new kitchen, live with it and don't mess with the things.

This is your typical generic Home Depot kitchen every baby boomer put in . You can go a long way painting the cabinets and walls and changing the hardware . I’d start there .

It's actually a pretty neutral space. Wall paint might do a lot. The backsplash look rather nice in the photo and seems to work very harmoniously with the cabinets. The floor wouldn't thrill me. Maybe a rug or floorcloth to introduce a few colors you like better?

I wouldn’t do any of those things. I’d change the appliances and paint the walls. It may not be exactly to your taste, but it’s a nice kitchen. They may say they are ok with you changing it, but I’d be pretty mad if my future DIL painted over brand new tile.

You say you know the importance of protecting an investment, but you want to put sticky tile up, or paint the backsplash? That will add no value.

Im usually the first to say paint the cabinets if you want, but in this case, I’d say no way.

It’s not your house.

Just noticed the light fixture over the sink. Replacing that might be an opportunity to introduce more of your own style without too much expense (or offense).

Since it is a rental, I would look for temporary enhancements that YOU would enjoy. Wallpaper could certainly change the whole vibe of the room! They sell removable wallpaper, great for renters. I would look for a pattern that would incorporate some white to make the appliances feel like it was part of the overall design. A few personal accessories would also do wonders for making the room feel more like you!

I think your money is best saved up for a downpayment on your own home. Everything here is new and functional, I say leave good enough alone.

Paint the walls, get some undercabinet lights, swap out the light fixture(s), throw down a rug or runner (I love Ruggable for the kitchen), add a plant and maybe a nice shade/curtain to the window. Even swapping the appliances to me seems like too much of an investment unless you plan to stay there for a decade.

We don’t know the rental market in your area and you say you would only do things that would improve value. Wood stained cabinets visually hold up longer (wear and tear) with renters than painted cabinets do. I would argue that painting those cabinets would be a short term gain long term pain thing. Going over the floor with a vinyl plank tile look in a greige tone would help a lot and not take away from the function of the space. Stainless appliances would be a no brainer if those white ones are getting up there in years. Painting the walls - sure. But that’s about as far as I’d take it. Good luck with your new family.

Oh sweet summer child, nothing like going into a new marriage with guns blazing. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth - and stop watching so much HGTV. Best of luck to you with your future husband and parents.

Oh, here we go again. Another OP who didn't like the advice so she deleted her OP.

Not surprised. But nothing surprises me anymore. Especially not surprising is the idea that "one can't live" with a thing for even a short while. : )

Until there is something a lot more important to worry about. At that point, a hot plate and a micro wave on a Formica counter with chips could look decent. We're just a nation of often wimpy brats and slow learners. I'll include myself, 70 % of the time. Then, a gut check, usually due to a whining client who suddenly gets a phone call............the bad kind. - the heart pounder.

My parents lived in married student housing at the University of Minnesota in 1958 - and it was a Quonset hut, with bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling. The "kitchen" was so small, Mom stored canned goods under the fridge.

One can put up with a lot, if one has to. And even do it cheerfully!

Thanks to this thread, I'm now fondly remembering our first apartment's kitchen with silver and avocado green foil wallpaper & green appliances. Topped off with our set of cherry red vinyl hand-me-down dinette chairs and brown faux wood-grain laminate table. Gorgeous!

Did the OP go home and take all her toys with her?

Yes, but we carry on, undeterred, because it's more fun than reading the news.

I had orange and avocado plaid wallpaper, , dark brown laminate junk cabinets.with carefully matched ironstone dishes - a poppy. Don't kid yourself, ...........those dishes didn't even go for free at a garage sale a decade later.

Made a lot of great meals in that tiny kitchen, had both sets of parents over and still shudder to think of the WATERBED. Not what went on IN it mind you, but nonetheless.......AURRGGGHHHHHH

Sort of fun when the op checks out, huh?!

Y'all are being way to harsh on this one, compared to a recent newbie who resorted to name calling and deleted her whole account. But I'm feeling a little nostalgic for all the kitchens I've had--I wish I could go back and spend a few hours in each one, with all the people in my life when I lived (and loved) in them.

Oh man I missed it! Anyone got the cliff notes?

I’m sensing something along the lines of OP is getting free housing from her new in laws but can’t stand the style so wants to completely redo it and doesn’t know why anyone would be offended by that?

Oh @mama goose_gw zn6OH, you’re making me tear up a little. This is the house I grew up in, and I miss my parents so much. I wish I could spend a little time with them. They used to make this amazing fish dish, “psari mayonnaisa” that involved poaching red snapper and vegetables and serving them with rice pilaf and homemade olive oil mayonnaise. It was sublime. For the presentation they would debone the fish, plate it in the shape of a fish, and cut the vegtables to look like fish scales. It was delicious and a work of art, and they worked together on it, which was fun to watch.

@User, my mom also made amazing coq au vin. I think you get extra points for cooking that meal in that kitchen. And for eating instant ramen.

I remember no details of my first kitchen, except that it had a gas range. Which I used occasionally to heat the tiny place when the landlord didn't pay the oil bill and we ran out of heat. Good times . . .

My first (and only) apartment had a harvest gold range, and no fridge. My grandparents gave me their extra fridge from the back porch, and I sold it to the landlord when I moved. My future MIL bought me a harvest gold teakettle--the old-fashioned kind--as a house-warming gift, and put marbles in it, so I wouldn't let it boil dry. She was notorious for letting several kettles boil dry. I've been using it as a yard ornament because I just can't bear to part with it, and just a few days ago, when we were sitting on the front porch, I told my DD the history behind the kettle.

@justcallmepool

The OP’s FUTURE in laws just put a brand new kitchen in a rental house that the OP was moving into. It had oak cabinets, granite counters and I think travertine floors and backsplash. It wasnt fancy or trendy, but it was nice. OP said she was more into “cool tones” and the kitchen wasn’t her style. She wanted to paint cabinets and put peel and stick tiles on backsplash. Or she could paint the tile backsplash. She never said that the in-laws approved the changes, just that they Would want her to make it her own. She also threw in a another post that she “as a homeowner” knows that changes can add value to property blah, blah.

Didnt make sense if she owned a home, why she was moving into her in-laws rental. She left before it could be asked. And none of her changes would add any value.

OP, if you are still around: don't take this all too personally. I think people are just saying to put things into perspective and not to run headlong into a project here.

I get it. You are getting married, and it's exciting, and this is your first place to start a new life. You are trying to make the new place yours. It's all kind of emotional and big and you want your future dreamed-of life to start right now, in as many details as you can eek out of reality.

But people are right that you shouldn't put a lot of money into trying to improve the "bones" of a rental. The rental is someone else's investment and property. Take good care of it, but don't change anything you cannot reverse easily before moving out and don't sink significant funds trying to improve it (even if you succeed at improving it). Save the money. Save, save, save. I don't know your situation, obviously, but if you are anything like my husband and I were in our first few years married / finishing school / starting careers, you will change jobs and move at least once in your first few years together, maybe even a few times. Even if you don't ... trust me, you are going to like the extra money in your downpayment savings account when the time finally comes.

Even without touching the major elements of the kitchen or other sections of the apartment, there's a ton of things you can do now. You are doing a registry and buying new things for yourself, so get some a few really wonderful pots and pans, maybe a big bright stand mixer if you like to make things from scratch ... whatever it is, find a few nice things that are all yours and that you can take with you if you move.

The fact that your inlaws own the place is a big factor. Even if they are really gracious and kind and love you to the moon and back, you need to be careful about feelings here - and also the practicalities of their investment property. Painting over new finishes is unlikely to improve the their value or durability. I know painting things has a big fan club, but unless you are certain of professional results and a finish with good longevity then painting over the factor finish is not doing the inlaws any favors. To be honest, discovering that a tenant just painted over your brand new cabinets and put stickers over your porous travertine tile sounds a little bit like a nightmare discovery for a landlord.